Vestibule stock-car.



PATENTED AUG. 30, "1904.

W. A. BUGKNBR. VESTIBULE STOCK GAR.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.10, 1903.-

N0 MODEL.- I

' of fastening.

No.769,1.28. I UNITED STATES WILLIAM A. BUOKNER,

VESTIBU'LE STOCK-CAR.

Patented August 30, 1904.

PATENT OFFicE.

on CLEBURNE, TEXAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 769,128, da g s 30,1904.

., Application filed December 10,1903. Serial'No.184,620. (N0 model.)

To all whom it mayconccrfip Be-it known that I, WILLIAM A. BUOKNER, acitizen of the United States, residing at Oleburne, in the county ofJohnson and State of Texas, have invented new and'u seful Improvementsin vVestibule Stock-Cars, of which the following-isa Specification, 0

This invention relates to vestibule stockcars, and has for its object toprovide a simple, inexpensive, and efiicient vestibule attachmentforstock-cars whereby the operation of loading, unloading, andtransferring the stock may be rapidly and conveniently accomplishedwithout danger to the stock and without the necessity of employing ashifting or other engine for shifting the cars.

It also has for its object to utilize the doors of the cars for formingthe sides of the vestibule and the floor or platform of the-vestibulefor holding the doors closed.

It has for a further object to so arrange the two partsor sections ofthe vestibule that they will telescope one in the other to compensatefor the approach and recession of the cars toward and from each otherwhile the cars are in motion.

Finally, it has other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear fromthe following detail description. I

.To these ends my invention consists in the features and in theconstruction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafterdescribed, and particularly pointed out in the. claims following thedescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart ofthis specification, wherein Figure l is a view in side elevationof a car and of a portion of another car coupled there-- to, the doorsbeing opened and the platform lowered to form the vestibule. Fig. 2 is atop plan view of the adjacent ends of two cars, showing the vestibule.Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal central section. Fig. 4 is an end viewof the car, showing the doors closed and the platform elevated-to holdthe doors in their closed position; and 5 is a detail perspective viewillustrating ainodified form Referring to the drawings, the numerallindicates a stock-car, which may be of the usual .way to the outside ofthe car.

and ordinaryor any preferredconstruction. Formed in each end of the caris a doorway 2, which is adapted to be closed by two hinged doors 3,saiddoors being hinged at their inner ends, at at 4, on opposite sidesof the door- VVhen closed, the free edges of said doors will abut oneanother in the usual manner and will completely close the doorway.

In practice I provide fastenings for holding the doors when open atsubstantially right angles to the end of the car, and in the pres' entinstance I have shown said fastenings as constituting hooks 5, which aresecured to the end of the car, and eyes 6, which are secured to thedoor, the arrangement being such that when the doors are opened or swungat right angles to the end ofthe car the hooks 5 are caused to engagethe eyes 6 and hold the doors in their open position. While the hooksand eyes will operate to securely hold the doors in 7 their openposition, there will be sufficient play between the hooks and eyes topermit of the doors having a slight oscillating movement about theirhinges for the purpose hereinafter made apparent.

Hinged, as at 7 to the lower edge portion of each end of the car is aplatform 8, and attached to the end of the car immediately below thehinges 7 is a transverse beam 9, which when the platform 8 is loweredserves to hold the platform in a substantially horizontal position. Asusual, chafing-blocks 13 are secured to the transverse beams 9 andproject outwardly therefrom on either side of the lonas, for example,during the operation of coupling or shifting the cars. Thesechafingblocks, together with the transverse beams'9,

. constitute a solid support, which practically extends entirely betweenthe ends of the cars and V serves as a bed upon which the platforms restwhen in their lowered positions. Formed in the opposite ends of each ofthe platforms 8 are slots 10, and attached to the end of the car areeyes 11, said eyes being so situated that when the platform is raised toa vertical position said eyes will project through the slots 10, and bypassing pins 12 through said eyes the platform will be held in itsvertical position.

When a train is made up, the platform 8 of one car will be lowered toits horizontal position and the platform 8 of an adjoining car will belowered so as to lap over and rest on the first-named platform. Thedoors of the first-named car are then opened and fastened with the hooksand eyes, after which the doors of the last-named or adjoining car willbe opened to lap and rest against the inner sides of the doors of thefirst-named car, the doors of one car thus telescoping between the doorsof the adjacent ear, the slight play of the doorfastenings readilypermitting of this arrangement. There will thus be formed a telescopingvestibule between the two cars having double sides and doublebottomsthat is to say, the platform of one car will overlap and restupon the platform of the next adjacent car and the open doors of one carwill overlap or embrace the open doors of the other car. Thisarrangement not only affords great strength to the sides and bottom ofthe vestibule, but it performs'a much more important function.

It is a matter of common knowledge that during the travel of a train ofcars owing to various reasons the cars are constantly approaching andreceding from one another within such limits as are permitted by thecouplings and draw-bars, and by telescoping the vestibule of one carinto the vestibule of another car in the manner described such movementscan take place without injury to the vestibule and without obstructingsuch movements in any manner whatsoever. When the movements abovereferred to take place, the platforms slide back and forth one upon theother and the doors telescope in and out of one another. Furthermore,owing to the play afforded by the door-fastenings said doors when intheir open positions will have a slight oscillating movement about theirhinges, whereby the flexibility of the train is not affected, and thecars may readily pass around curves without injury or affecting in anymanner the doors forming the sides of the vestibule.

In orderto permit of the doors which are innermost when the vestibule isformed being held in their open positions, each of the doors is providedwith a slot 14:, through which the eyes 6 of the innermost doors projectwhen the vestibule is made up to enable the hooks 5 to engage said eyes.The said slots are made somewhat longer than the full width of the eyesto permit of the slight movement of the cars toward and from one anotherwhich occurs when the train is in motion.

By means of my improved vestibule cars For example, the doors of theforward endof the foremost car will be closed and fastened by raising upthe platform and inserting the pins 12 in the eyes 11 and the trainmoved into position so that one of the side doorways of the car will beopposite the runway usually employed for leading stock into cars. Allthe other doors having been opened and the platforms lowered (exceptingat the rear end of the rearmost car) to form vestibules, the cattle orother live stock are driven up the runway into the foremost car and maythen be driven from car to car until each successive car is filled,after which the doorway in the side of the foremost car will of coursebe closed. This, as before described, is accomplished without moving anyof the cars. When the train is in motion, any of the stock may betransferred from one car to another without liability of injury to thestock, the vestibule between the cars forming a perfect safeguardagainst the stock falling between the cars, and in like manner thevestihules form a perfectly safe passage-way for the attendants inpassing from one car to another. In like manner the cars may be unloadedwithout the necessity of shifting them after one of the cars has beenbrought opposite the runway.

It will be obvious that instead of the cattle entering the foremost orrearmost car when they are being loaded onto the train the train may beso located relative to the chute or runway that the latter will beopposite the side doorway of a car intermediate the front and rearcar-as, for example, the central car. This method of loading the cattleon the train can be adopted in case the train is a long one, and thestock may even be driven from the chute or runway into the central carand be driven in op osite directions to the several cars in front andrear of the central car.

The vestibule-cars above described are especially designed for conveyingcattle and other stock; but it will be apparent that they are also welladapted for carrying lumber, rails, and the like, owing to the facilitywith which such materials may be loaded endwise into the cars.

I have shown as a simple means for holding the doors in their openpositions hooks and eyes, and likewise I have shown eyes and, pins forholding the platforms in their elevated positions and for locking thedoors when the latter are closed and the platforms are raised; but itwill be understood that I do not confine myself to such fastenings, as Imay employ any suitable fastenings that will operate to hold the doorsin the same position and at the same time permit of a slight oscillatingmovement about their hinges when IIO the doors are opened, and otherfastening devices than the pins and eyes for holding the platforms intheir raised positions maybe employed, the essential features of theinvention consisting in providing the doorways in the ends of the carsand hinging double doors on' the opposite sides of the doorway whichwhen opened will telescope into a similar pair of doors on the adjacentcar, and the hinged platforms whichwhen lowered will overlap one theother. It will also, of course, be understood that instead of. using thetransverse beams 9 for supporting the platforms in their loweredpositions other means may beemployed for this purpose.

In practice the width of each single door is made nearly equal to theentire distance between two coupled cars." When two cars are coupledtogether and the vestibule is made up, the sides of the vestibule willbe doubled, and this arrangement, besides adding strength to thevestibule, also permits the door-openings to be made Very large, in factas large or even larger than the door openings in the sides of the car,so that in loading cattle they will be enabled to go from car to car inas great numbers as they would in entering the cars from the sideopenings, and the cattle are thus prevented from jamming in thedooropenings, which would occur if said openings were smaller than theside openings.

As shown, the slots 1 1 extend entirely to the free ends or edges of thedoors,.so that should two cars be accidentally'uncoupled or should suchcar he uncoupled while the vestibule is made up the cars can beseparated without any liability of the doors being torn ofi or injured,as the eyes 6 are free to pass out of the slots 14:. In Fig. 5 of thedrawings I have illustrated a modified form of fastening comprising ametallic bar or strip 15, rabbeted on its upper edge, as indicated at16, there being one such bar or. strip provided for each door. Saidstrips are nailed, bolted, riveted, or otherwise suitably attached tothe inner sideof each door, and, to the inner side of each door ispivoted a hook 17, the relative location of said hooks and rabbeted barsbeing suchthat when the doors are opened to make up the vestibule thehooks 17 on the innermost doors are caused to engage the rabbeted edgeof the'bars 15. The doors are in this manner firmly fastened together,so as to resist any outward pressure; but at the, same time the hooksare free to slide back and forth in the space or groove between therabbeted edge of the bars and the sides of the adjacent door, so as topermit of the approach and recession of the cars. The fasteningconstructed in the manner shown and described will also compensate forany vertical movement between cars.

In some stock-cars the ends are slatted in the same manner as the sides,and in such cars the eyes 6 will be so applied to the doors that whenthe vestibule is made up the eyes of the outermostdoors will projectbetween two slats on the inner doors, so that said eyes may be of a doorhinged on each side of each of said doorways, the doors of one car beingarranged to overlap the doors of the other car, means for holding saiddoors in their open positions, and platforms hinged to the ends of saidcar beneath the doorways, one of said platforms being arranged tooverlap the other, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses. I

WILLIAM A. BUCKNER.

Witnesses:

Q. B. Lovn, W. H. PURGELL

